Geography Paper 1 - Section A

a naturally occurring event

• the probability that an even becomes a hazard, influenced by

  • climate change

  • urbanisation

  • poverty

  • reliance on tourism/agriculture

• inner core (solid), outer core (liquid), mantle (magma moved by convection currents) and crust (dense oceanic, less dense continental)

• plates move due to convection currents

• destructive

  • move towards each other, oceanic crust subducted

  • forms the andes, like the South America and nazca plates

• constructive

  • plates move apart

• conservative

  • plates slide, causing pressure and friction i.e. San Andreas Fault

• people live here because

  • family

  • business

  • low risk

• schemes to protect them include:

  • rigorous planning

  • counterweighting and floating buildings

  • compressed bales and netting

  • there is not much warning, or prediction, only monitoring

• happened on April 6th 2009, 3:30am

• depth of 9km, magnitude of 6.3, worst earthquake in 30 years

• collision/destructive boundary of Eurasian and African Plate

• the impacts include:

  • physical

    • landslides

    • land ruptures

    • rockfalls

  • economic

    • 15,000 buildings destroyed including the Cathedral of San Massimo, and other significant buildings

    • 88,000 unemployed

    • costs of $15 billion

    • loss of tourism

  • political

    • 6 scientists convicted of manslaughter for not preparing and predicting effectively

    • he refused international help

  • social

    • 308 died and 1500 injured

    • 70,000 homeless

• management strategies included:

  • housing homeless in hotels and tents

  • sending free phones and credit to citizens

  • asking the USA to help rebuilding efforts

• happened on April 25th 2015, 11:56am

• depth of 15km, magnitude of 7.8

• subduction of Indian Plate under Eurasian Plate

• the impacts include:

  • physical

    • landslides and avalanches which killed 300 people

    • Mount Everest moved and an avalanche killed 22 climbers

  • economic

    • 90% of tourist bookings were cancelled losing around $600 million

    • subsistence based households were disrupted as stores were destroyed

    • 700,000 people were pushed into poverty

    • 14 HEP stations were damaged, causing 25% loss in electricity

  • political

    • 67 deaths in India, 4 in Bangladesh, 18 in China

  • social

    • 9,000 killed, 23,000 injured

    • 7000 schools flattened and 1/2 million homeless

    • UNESCO site Changu Narayan temple was destroyed

• management strategies included:

  • 125,000 ex-servicemen for rescues, but there was rain and tremors

  • over 500million Nepal Rupees donated

  • donations in excess of $20 million

• low pressure is when the air is rising, causing unstable weather

• high pressure is where air pushes onto the earth, causing stable weather

• happen between the tropics and around the equator

• they’re formed by

  • in deep ocean waters, the temperature must be around 28C

  • the winds converge above the water in zones of unstable air so the water and wind can rise

  • the air needs to be humid so the storm can begin to gain energy, and wind must continue coming in

  • in high pressure zones the storm can now begin it’s journey

• storms move between 10 to 80mph

• as they move over land, they lose energy

• human causes of climate change

  • deforestion releasing gases into the air

  • farming releasing gases into the air

  • fossil fuels releasing gases into the air

• natural causes of climate change

  • volcanoes polluting with ash and gases

  • sun activity

  • milankovitch cycle changing the tilt of the earth and sun intensity

• evidence for climate change

  • increased ocean surface temperatures

  • records being set each year

  • ice caps melting

  • change in migration patterns

• using mitigation to manage climate change

  • mitigation is reducing or preventing a problem

  • alternative energy resources

  • afforestation

  • international agreements

  • carbon capture and storage techniques

• using adaptation to manage climate change

  • adaptation is learning to live with a problem

  • floating gardens in Bangladesh to tackle flooding

  • wind captures in Iran to tackle temperature rises

  • sea walls in the Maldives to tackle flooding

  • artificial glaciers in the Himalayas to tackle water supply

• southern USA on August 25, 2017; category 3 hurricane

• impacts include:

  • rainfall of over 100cm in 4 days, blocking roads and displacing houses

  • storm surge caused extra flooding

  • economic damages of over $125 billion, sustained mostly by uninsured homeowners, loss in tourism revenue, production of oil and gas and property damage

  • 83 deaths and 30,000 displaced people

  • 300,000 people without electricity

• preparation and responses included

  • disaster response teams and warnings from 2 days in advance

  • Trump requested $5.95 billion and him and other corporations donated over $72 million

  • 17,000 rescues took place

• the formation of the hurricane was:

  • started and stopped between 17th to 23rd

  • by Aug. 25th, speeds of up to 130mph

• extreme weather events include:

  • extreme rain

  • storms and flooding

  • droughts and heatwaves

• this is due to being between the polar and ferrel cells, where there is low pressure and unstable weather

• dec 2013 to feb 2014; 17,000 acres flooded

• this is due to:

  • a lack of river dredging

  • increased urbanisation

  • soil oversaturation

  • high tide

  • prolonged rainfall

• impacts include

  • 600 homes and 16 farms were flooded

  • villages were cut off due to flooding on the A361

  • over £1 million was lost for businesses during this period and over £200 million for tourism

• responses include:

  • putting pumps in to drain the land - each one cost £200,000 per week and they had over 60 draining just over 1 million litres a day

  • reintroducing dredging to increase river capacity

  • tidal barrage to increase river capacity

  • funding of £10 million from the Department for Transport